rover | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:03:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png rover | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 NASA’s 2020 rover MOXIE unit will make O2 from Martian air https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-2020-rover-moxie-unit-will-make-o2-from-martian-air/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-2020-rover-moxie-unit-will-make-o2-from-martian-air/#respond Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:03:30 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=311652 NASA has been sending rovers to Mars since the '90s and currently operates both Opportunity and Curiosity on the red planet. However it has plans for something much grander in the near future, with a 2020 launch of the next rover set to take with it a number of new and exciting instruments. One of …

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NASA has been sending rovers to Mars since the '90s and currently operates both Opportunity and Curiosity on the red planet. However it has plans for something much grander in the near future, with a 2020 launch of the next rover set to take with it a number of new and exciting instruments. One of them, known as MOXIE, will attempt to make oxygen from Martian carbon dioxide.

Built on a similar framework to the previously launched and landed Curiosity, the next-generation of Mars rover will carry much more sophisticated equipment and upgraded hardware. These scientific instruments will be used to conduct a number of experiments which will help determine soil composition, habitability of the environment, as well as searching for signs of possible Martian life.

roverevolutiion2

One of the most exciting instruments that will be aboard the 2020 rover though is the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment, or MOXIE. It will be used to convert Mars' carbon dioxide dominant atmosphere into oxygen, which could pave the way for breathable air generation in future manned Mars missions.

Other instruments include: the Mascam-Z, an advanced camera system which can produce panoramic and stereoscopic images; SuperCam, which can provide imaging and chemical composition analysis, as well as detecting organic compounds in rocks from a distance; the PIXL system, which will provide an in-depth look at the chemical composition of Martian surface materials; the SHERLOC spectrometer, which provides fine-scale imaging through ultraviolet laser which will also help detect organic compounds; the environmental dynamics analyser sensor suite, which will draw information from the atmosphere and its various factors, and a ground penetrating radar which will give us centimetre-scale resolution of the ground's geologic structure for the first time.

roverevolution

All of that advanced kit will be fitted to a Curiosity-like frame and locomotion system, as it's proven to not only be capable of traversing Mars, but landing safely.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The timetable for NASA's plan to get people to Mars is much more conservative than the commercial space sector. It will be interesting to see which is more accurate in the long run. 

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Mars may have methane producing microbes https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/brendan-morgan/mars-may-have-methane-producing-microbes/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/brendan-morgan/mars-may-have-methane-producing-microbes/#respond Wed, 17 Dec 2014 08:32:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=226660 In a paper released in the Science academic journal a few days ago, a group of NASA scientists has confirmed the existence of methane gas on Mars. This is a good indicator of life, as 95% of methane here on Earth is generated by Microbes. While this is in itself impressive, some of the other facts about their findings, make this …

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In a paper released in the Science academic journal a few days ago, a group of NASA scientists has confirmed the existence of methane gas on Mars. This is a good indicator of life, as 95% of methane here on Earth is generated by Microbes. While this is in itself impressive, some of the other facts about their findings, make this an even more interesting discovery!

Over the past 20 months, NASA made observations using the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on the Curiosity rover. This has shown large bursts over the usual background levels of atmospheric methane, sometimes more than 10 times the usual amount.

nasa mars methane

While scientists cannot yet be sure exactly what is sending these bursts of gas into the Martian atmosphere, they do have a few theories. The leading one is that the methane is escaping from under the surface of the red planet in an outgassing, similar to the way that a geyser works here on earth.

NASA has also released findings from several drilling samples, which show Martian organic chemicals in the dust produced by the drill. These are “the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars.” according to the space agency. It cannot be sure however if these were formed on Mars itself, or if they were brought to the planet by meteorites.

Hopefully when the European Space Agency's ExoMars touches down in January 2019, it will be able to confirm some of these NASA findings. Failing that NASA hopes to have the first humans on Mars in the 2030s, so not long to wait!

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Both of these discoveries could point to multi-cellular life on Mars, but we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. While finding life of any kind outside of our own blue marble would be amazing, it will probably still be a long time until it can be confirmed. Do you have any hopes of us finding extraterrestrial life on the red planet?

Source: Science, NASA

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NASA’s next Mars rover will test basic terraforming https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-next-mars-rover-will-test-basic-terraforming/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-next-mars-rover-will-test-basic-terraforming/#comments Fri, 01 Aug 2014 14:09:21 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=205625 The Mars Curiosity rover is a not-so-little badass, having taken astounding pictures of the surface of the red planet, zapped rocks with lasers to find out their chemical components and given us hope that we might one day find life on the seemingly dead world. It's older cousin, Opportunity, is no slouch either, having recently …

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The Mars Curiosity rover is a not-so-little badass, having taken astounding pictures of the surface of the red planet, zapped rocks with lasers to find out their chemical components and given us hope that we might one day find life on the seemingly dead world. It's older cousin, Opportunity, is no slouch either, having recently broken the distance record for off-world rovers. However the next rover in line to take to the stars and head in Mars' direction, is going to bring with it some serious scientific equipment, enough to even test basic terraforming.

As it stands, the rover is set to launch from Earth's atmosphere sometime in 2020, hence it's current name: Mars 2020. It'll also be using the same body as the Curiosity rover, as NASA has a spare lying around so why not make use of it, but the equipment it will carry will be much more advanced.

For example, its camera system is going to have a zoom function, something that's not possible with Curiosity. Beyond that though, the new Mastcam-Z system, will allow for multi-wavelength images to be taken, looking at ultraviolet and infrared spectrums, which could provide us with whole new sets of data.

mars2020

This extra analysis will also come in handy when it comes to the onboard laser. Curiosity has one of those already and has been shooting rocks with it to see what comes out, vaporising them and then analysing the resulting gasses. On the 2020 rover however, NASA will be able to turn those cameras on to the vapours, analysing them in multiple wavelengths.

Other features which Wired has highlighted, include a weather analyser which will consider things like barometric pressure, temperature humidity and wind speed, letting us give a more accurate weather forecast for Mars' burgeoning tourist industry. There's also going to be a new radar system that can scan up to a third of a mile into the ground beneath the rover, giving us a detailed map of the earth's composition.

However the most forward-thinking technology aboard the 2020, is its oxygen generator. The Oxygen ISRU Experiment is a piece of equipment that can take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen. While 2020 isn't going to terraform the entire planet for us, advanced versions of it could one day produce liquid oxygen for fuel, or breathable air for astronauts living and working on the surface.

KitGuru Says: For those of you waiting for a KSP reference, you're not getting one…

Duna. 

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Curiosity rover finds ancient fresh water lake https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/curiosity-rover-finds-ancient-fresh-water-lake/ Wed, 11 Dec 2013 11:41:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=167063 NASA's Curiosity rover continues to throw up exciting information about its current home, Mars, where it has found evidence that suggests there was once a fresh water lake in an area known as Yellowknife Bay that was neither too acidic, nor too alkaline to support life. abortion persuasive essay Announced in a Science Magazine paper …

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NASA's Curiosity rover continues to throw up exciting information about its current home, Mars, where it has found evidence that suggests there was once a fresh water lake in an area known as Yellowknife Bay that was neither too acidic, nor too alkaline to support life.

Announced in a Science Magazine paper (via Wired), the discovery was made by analysing several sedimentary rocks made from smectite clay minerals, which evidently formed in water. It's believed that the lake these rocks were deposited in would have been able to support chemolithoautotrophs, microbes that are often found on earth surrounding deep sea vents.

curiosity

While that environment no longer exists today, it's believed that it may have endured for tens of thousands of years and were it still around, placing earth based chemolithoautographs in it would have allowed them to survive on a different planet.

Perhaps most exciting about this latest report however, is that due to the  “higher abundances of chlorinated hydrocarbons in the mudstone compared with Rocknest,” it could theoretically mean that the bed of this lake, made up of mudstone, could contain organic carbon based life, though it cannot be confirmed at this point whether that matter is of martian origin.

KitGuru Says: Quite exciting news considering the potential for finding the remains of organic life not from our own planet. Makes me want to get back on to Kerbal's new career mode. 

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China heading to the moon with first moon rover https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jon-martindale/china-heading-to-the-moon-with-first-moon-rover/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/jon-martindale/china-heading-to-the-moon-with-first-moon-rover/#respond Tue, 03 Dec 2013 09:58:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=165441 What's up Kerbal Space Program fans and you know, people interested in real, actual space travel. China has now launched its first lunar rover, attached to the Chang'e-3 lunar probe with the intended mission of surveying the moon's surface and looking for natural resources that can one day perhaps be mined and exploited for deeper …

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What's up Kerbal Space Program fans and you know, people interested in real, actual space travel. China has now launched its first lunar rover, attached to the Chang'e-3 lunar probe with the intended mission of surveying the moon's surface and looking for natural resources that can one day perhaps be mined and exploited for deeper space travel.

While moon landings might seem a bit old hat at this point, what with the giant Curiosity rover tearing it up over on Mars, don't count this probe out. The Chang'e-3's payload is the most technologically advanced rover to ever land on the surface of that celestial body. Known as Yutu, it will be able to scan the ground for its underlying structure thanks to onboard radar equipment. It will also set up a telescope on the moon for the first time ever.

moonlanding
“No way!”

Yes way Lloyd and the mission is going well too, with the probe currently sitting in earth orbit and going through the motions to reach the Mun. I mean moon. According to Wired, the probe will touch down with rover attached in mid-December, at which point it will become the first moon lander to hit the surface since the turn of the century.

China isn't stopping there however. This is expected to be the first stage of China's first manned mission to the moon, with plans for more manned space flights over the next few years, including potentially a co-op mission with India.

KitGuru Says: More space travel is more gooder. It's great to see more countries building established space programs. Anything that accelerates the creation of moon bases and other cool sci-fi stuff, the better. 

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Mars rat gets internet all flustered https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mars-rat-gets-internet-all-flustered/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mars-rat-gets-internet-all-flustered/#comments Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:46:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=137204 If there's one thing the human brain and the internet have in common, its deriving meaning from something very mundane and both of these phenomenons have struck again, with the recent “discovery” of the Mars rat, a small rock that does indeed look like a rodent – on Mars. It comes from a photo taken …

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If there's one thing the human brain and the internet have in common, its deriving meaning from something very mundane and both of these phenomenons have struck again, with the recent “discovery” of the Mars rat, a small rock that does indeed look like a rodent – on Mars.

It comes from a photo taken by the Curiosity Rover last year but has seemingly, only now been combed through by experts and Mars aficionados alike recently. In the image, between a pair of rather non-descript rocks, is another that looks to have ears, eyes, snout, legs and perhaps even tail – though if this was a Mars creature, its back legs leave a lot to be desired.

marsrat

As much as we may want to find extra-terrestrial life, the other reason people see a small, air breathing mammal where that rock lies, is a phenomenon called pareidolia, which as any number of in-the-know Redditors will tell you, is the human tendency to recognise shapes and images where there are none. It's thought to be an evolutionary trait to help children bond with parents early on in their development.

KitGuru Says:  Of course it would be far cooler if this really was a Mars rat, but hey, if you want to pretend, there is a twitter account for it, which seems to be giving away all his species' plans for an invasion of Earth.

Thanks LATimes

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NASA releases driving distances of Mars and Moon craft https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/nasa-releases-driving-distances-of-mars-and-moon-craft/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/nasa-releases-driving-distances-of-mars-and-moon-craft/#respond Fri, 17 May 2013 12:57:20 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=135145 Ever wondered how far the Curiosity rover has driven in its short time on the red planet? Or perhaps the distance that any of the Apollo Lunar Rovers covered while piloted across the dusty surface of our moon? Well now you can find out, thanks to NASA. Charting the miles (well, kilometers) covered by some …

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Ever wondered how far the Curiosity rover has driven in its short time on the red planet? Or perhaps the distance that any of the Apollo Lunar Rovers covered while piloted across the dusty surface of our moon? Well now you can find out, thanks to NASA.

Charting the miles (well, kilometers) covered by some of mankind's greatest vehicular achievements, the space organisation has created a nice infographic to show just how far we've come and gone in the past forty years. Of course, only being on Mars for a few months, Curiosity hasn't had much time to get up to speed, so it's only traveled 0.7KM. Travel up the list to some of the Lunar Rovers though and we're getting into the tens of kilometres.

Still, while the USA supposedly won the space race, that's not the case if you consider it all about distance.

rovers

That's right, since 1973 the Russian's have been kicking the world's ass all over the place, when it comes to the distance race, in space. However, Opportunity is slowly closing in. Despite it's initial lifespan expectation being just 90 days, it's endured for almost ten years and it's still trundling along. At this rate, it won't be long before it becomes the crowned king of land racing on another world.

As long as nothing goes wrong though, Curiosity could one day take poll position, as its batteries should easily last over a decade.

KitGuru Says: Impressive stuff from the old Opportunity. In all fairness though, the champion Lunokhod would have gotten further had a load of dust not clogged up its radiators, overheating the thing, in space. Never let the Russian's build your CPU cooler.

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Curiosity rover is photo sharing again https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/curiosity-rover-is-photo-sharing-again/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/curiosity-rover-is-photo-sharing-again/#respond Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:00:59 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=129546 After a malfunction that booted the little guy into safe mode – we're assuming the intergalactic version of a BSOD – the Mars Curiosity Rover is once again transmitting pictures across the cosmos to our humble blue marble of a planet. Unfortunately however, the little guy may need to take a break throughout April, as …

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After a malfunction that booted the little guy into safe mode – we're assuming the intergalactic version of a BSOD – the Mars Curiosity Rover is once again transmitting pictures across the cosmos to our humble blue marble of a planet.

Unfortunately however, the little guy may need to take a break throughout April, as the Sun is set to pass between us and Mars, making communications difficult at best – you know, because the Sun is ridiculously big. However, this doesn't mean that lil' Rover will be sitting idle. While he will receive no commands – that could potentially be corrupted – between 4th April and 1st May, Curiosity will be continuing his previously scheduled functions and experiments.

Curiosity
This picture is a colorised black and white mosaic of images.

So far Curiosity has not only sent back fascinating pictures of the red planet, but has also discovered a white rock which adds to the evidence pile that Mars once had flowing water on its surface.

The Rover was forced to halt in its tracks recently however, due to a series of setbacks. These included a memory failure, followed by a shut down during a solar storm and finally a random glitch forced scientists to send Curiosity into temporary safe mode.

KitGuru Says: I'm really, really looking forward to the first manned Mars mission. I feel lucky that we're part of the generation that gets to witness that. Of course those in their mid-50s will no doubt remember the moon landing as it happened. While I wouldn't trade my virile young form for yours, that's a pretty cool memory to have.

Thanks NBC

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Curiosity prepares for Monday morning Martian landing https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jules/curiosity-prepares-for-monday-morning-martian-landing/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jules/curiosity-prepares-for-monday-morning-martian-landing/#respond Sun, 05 Aug 2012 10:33:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=102535 At the time KitGuru sits down to write this story, NASA's Curiosity space rover is closer to Mars than the moon is to Earth. Around 6am UK time, the world's most expensive landing vehicle will try and nestle its 1 ton bulk on the surface of the Red Planet and begin transmitting vital data. KitGuru …

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At the time KitGuru sits down to write this story, NASA's Curiosity space rover is closer to Mars than the moon is to Earth. Around 6am UK time, the world's most expensive landing vehicle will try and nestle its 1 ton bulk on the surface of the Red Planet and begin transmitting vital data. KitGuru crosses fingers, toes and eyes in an attempt to focus good luck energy skywards.

The science is intriguing, but when you put tomorrow morning's effort in to real world terms, it's even more impressive.

Find a fat mate, ideally one that weighs around 100Kg, then try and pick them up. Now get 8 of their mates around and get them to all stand in a single box and try to lift that. Next, contemplate that box being made of various metals, raise it up into the atmosphere and fire it at the ground at around 20,000 Km/hour. Fancy their chances of survival much?

This exactly the kind of problem that NASA has been working on since 2004.

No Intel Inside. No Microsoft in sight. Wow. How will NASA ever mount a serious mission to Mars without the world's leading processors and operating systems? Someone should offer them a deal on Windows 8. Surely.

Given that the distance between Mars and Earth can vary anywhere from 36 million to almost 250 million miles, the launch window for the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) was narrow, so when an Atlas V rocket blasted into the heavens on 26th November 2011 – NASA knew that it was firmly in the land of ‘do or die'.

Critics of space travel claim that the $2.5 Billion spend on the Mars Science Laboratory was too much.

In comparison, the amount spent by the USA on fighting wars in the Middle East over the past 10 years ($1.36 Trillion) would have paid for ‘Curiosity' to be built and launched, once a day – almost every day – for nearly 2 years.

Bargain.

Call us old-fashioned, but we'd rather see rockets blasted into space for exploration than killing Marines for oil.

Boeing/Lockheed-Martin has created a lander that is generations ahead of its predecessors. For a start, it is around 10x the size of previous landed vehicles (2x wider and 5x longer).

Able to roll straight over obstacles around 30cm (1 foot) in height, Curiosity can investigate around 30 metres of Mars a day. It has been built to last almost 2 years, so in theory it will allow NASA to intimately survey an area that's almost 500km long.

The real world does not often follow theory exactly, but if things go well, then the distance covered would be similar to travelling from London to Glasgow or Toronto to Washington. This is a huge distance and will hopefully yield convincing evidence, one way or the other, about Mars' ability to support life in the past.

The challenge is not to find life that became extinct in the last century or millennium, but rather to find microbial life from at least 2 billion years ago. Having a large moon and molten core, enabled Earth to develop water-based life over a greater period of time – whereas the Martian core appears to have frozen shortly after the planet was formed (possibly ~4 billion years ago).

Earth's larger mass and bulky moon helped keep our core molten and, therefore, magnetic. As you can see, the Martian plates stopped moving a long time ago, temperatures plummeted and surface water dissipated

Geeks among the KitGuru audience will laugh at the relatively weak processing power that will be available for the mission:-

  • RAD750 processor manufactured by British Aerospace from IBM PowerPC 750 technology
  • Its 10.4 million transistors churn through more than 250 million instructions a second (250MIPS)
  • Alongside 256MB of DRAM, it also has a whopping 2GB of Flash memory
  • The whole package has been available for more than 10 years and it first went into space around 2005
  • Mounted on a special board, the radiation-hardened unit costs a mere $200,000
  • It can take an X-Ray/Gamma Ray licking and keep on ticking, while ambient temperatures around it can vary from a chilli -55 degrees to a toasty 70 degrees

The rover will parachute into the atmosphere and, shortly before landing, a carrier craft will deploy boosters to slow its decent completely. With luck, on Monday 6th August 2012 – 67 years to the day after Hiroshima was devastated by the world's first atomic attack – a nuclear powered rover called Curiosity will begin to transmit amazing data back to scientists on earth.

With a mission duration of close to 2 years, we have to hope that something cool makes its way into the data stream.

Copying Zardon's pub-crawlling technique from the 80s, Curiosity should cushion down gently Monday morning

.

We encourage you to join in with NASA's ambitious journey over here.

KitGuru says: This mission really captures the imagination of a KitGuru. Exploring distant planets is the stuff of Sci-Fi and legend. We will all be watching out screens with baited breath – hoping that the landing mechanisms work 100% and the greatest Martian mission to date kicks off on Monday morning.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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NASA plans for Mars Rover 3D camera cancelled https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/carl/nasa-plans-for-mars-rover-3d-camera-cancelled/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/carl/nasa-plans-for-mars-rover-3d-camera-cancelled/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:56:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=39718 NASA have had to cancel plans to build a 3D camera for the next robotic rover that they will send to Mars. Time was against them and they wouldn't have had enough time to test the device for inclusion on the new ‘curiosity' rover scheduled to launch later this year. Movie director James Cameron, creator …

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NASA have had to cancel plans to build a 3D camera for the next robotic rover that they will send to Mars. Time was against them and they wouldn't have had enough time to test the device for inclusion on the new ‘curiosity' rover scheduled to launch later this year.

Movie director James Cameron, creator of Titanic and Avatar has been helping them build the new camera, which would have had zoom and 3D capabilities. Cameron has been working with the Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego to build what would have been a 3D upgrade to the camera, nicknamed ‘Mastcam'.

Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger said “With the Mastcam that was installed last year and the rover's other instruments, Curiosity can accomplish its ambitious research goals, “The possibility for an upgrade was very much worth pursuing, but time became too short for the levels of testing that would be needed for them to confidently replace the existing cameras.”

The Mastcam camera

Malin Space Science Systems will continue to work on the upgraded camera system so it can be used on future missions, say NASA.

Curiosity is a SUV sized super rover that can carry chemistry instruments, cameras, radiation monitors and environmental sensors to investigate the Martian surface. All of these are used to help scientists figure out if life ever existed on Mars and to prepare to send humans to the red planet.

This new super rover was scheduled to be sent to Mars in 2009, but the launch has been delayed due to funding issues.

KitGuru says: Is there Life On Mars? David Bowie wondered the same thing.

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